Panthers face first ACC test with trip to Virginia
No. 24 Pitt opens its ACC schedule at 7 p.m. Friday at Virginia in a match that will be streamed on ESPN+ as part of ACC Network Extra.
In theory, it’s a match the Panthers should win without much of an issue. Of course, we thought the same of home duals against Maryland and West Virginia – both of which the Panthers lost – and a road trip to Columbia, where they narrowly escaped with a victory.
“I think they’re always a pretty solid dual meet team because they don’t have any huge holes,” Panthers coach Keith Gavin said of the Cavaliers. “We definitely can’t look past them.”
Virginia (6-2, 0-0 in ACC) has a veteran team led by 165-pounder Justin McCoy. A 2017 PIAA champion in Class AA for Chestnut Ridge, the redshirt senior is a three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time ACC runner-up who is ranked 15th by Intermat.
Jarod Verkleeren, who won a AAA title for Hempfield Area in 2017, is in his second season with the Hoos after four years at Penn State. He’s ranked 30th at 149, a spot lower than Pitt’s Tyler Badgett.
Pitt (6-2, 0-0) should be favored in the lightweight matches, and a win by Badgett could put the Panthers in the driver’s seat.
“If we start at 125 and win the first four, it would be hard to lose the dual meet,” Gavin said. “That’s doable for us. We could have a really good showing. If not, it’s another one that’s up for grabs.”
Virginia 141-pounder Brian Courtney, who won state titles at Athens Area in 2016 and 2017, was teaching middle school in South Carolina last semester before returning to wrestle at the Midlands and enrolling at Virginia as a graduate student. He’s already moved into the rankings at No. 29.
Matthews is 4-1 against Courtney in college, including a major decision victory in their last meeting in 2021.
“They were back and forth,” Gavin said of the rivalry. “Courtney has looked good. He had a good Midlands. He has a good gas tank and wrestles through positions. Cole has a lot of experience with him and knows how to handle that. He just has to go out and do his job.”
Neil Antrassian, another graduate student, is ranked 20th at 184 and Michael Battista, a – you guessed it – graduate student – is 24th at 197.
Pitt has a higher-ranked wrestler at all of those weights except 165, where Holden Heller is 16 spots below McCoy.
Bonaccorsi has majored Battista in all three of their matchups, the last of which came in 2020 when they were each at 184 pounds.
Battista is coming off last week’s win over No. 16 Jaxon Smith of Maryland. That impressed Gavin, who was an assistant coach at Virginia before returning to lead his alma mater.
“He’s gotten better every year,” Gavin said. “I remember when he was in high school. He’s someone that’s really developed.”
Bonaccorsi is 8-0 this season with three wins over top-20 wrestlers, including an 8-2 decision of Smith.
“He’s doing a good job of being consistent with the way that he performs,” Gavin said. “You expect that out of someone who is a veteran like him. He’s very consistent with his preparation and the way that he competes.”
Consistency has been a problem for Dazjon “Cheez” Casto, who is coming off a 1-0 win over Buffalo backup Kaleb Burgess. Still, that was an improvement for Casto, who is listed as the starter against Virginia after briefly being benched in favor of Dan Mancini due to issues with his weight.
Casto finished one victory shy of earning All-American honors last season, but is 4-5 this year. His losses have been baffling at times, but Gavin is encouraged by what he’s seen, mostly in Casto’s weight cut.
“I think he’s definitely taking it more seriously,” Gavin said. “That (0-2 performance at the) Midlands tournament was a bit of a wakeup for him. He had some other matches that you could blame on other things, like when he was up by 14 and got pinned, but the Midlands thing, he set himself up for failure with the way that he prepared.
“He didn’t wrestle great against Buffalo, but it was nice to see him fight in the third period for a win.”
Casto has split a pair of matches with No. 33 Jake Keating, including a win by fall in the NCAA tournament.
Colton Camacho has split a pair of matches with Patrick McCormick at 125.
The Panthers are coming off a 37-0 victory over Buffalo, five days after their 24-11 loss to West Virginia.
“I think they responded well to that disappointing loss to West Virginia,” Gavin said. “It was the way that you wrestled, not if you won or lost. They wrestled with a lot more energy. That has to be consistent for us.”
Pitt won 28-10 last season and has prevailed in six of the past seven duals with Virginia.
PROBABLE MATCHUPS
125: Patrick McCormick (7-8) vs. Colton Camacho (11-6)
133: Marlon Yarbrough (5-5) OR Keyveon Roller (7-3) vs. No. 7 Micky Phillippi (7-1)
141: No. 29 Brian Courtney (2-1) OR Dylan Cedeno (9-5) vs. No. 3 Cole Matthews (11-1)
149: No. 30 Jarod Verkleeren (14-5) vs. No. 29 Tyler Badgett (11-6)
157: No. 33 Jake Keating (3-4) OR Denton Spence (11-6) vs. Dazjon Casto (4-5)
165: No. 15 Justin McCoy (12-3) vs. No. 31 Holden Heller (7-4)
174: Vic Marcelli (9-8) OR Justin Phillips (10-8) vs. Luca Augustine (9-6)
184: No. 20 Neil Antrassian (18-4) vs. No. 17 Reece Heller (15-2)
197: No. 24 Michael Battista (21-6) vs. No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi (8-0)
285: Ethan Weatherspoon (5-9) OR Colden Dorfman (7-5) vs. No. 5 Dayton Pitzer (5-1) OR Jacob Slinger (7-6)